4 Things Women Have Had Enough of by the Time They Are 40

By Irena Ioannou — GAZE

For most women, middle age is a very creative period, so productive that everyone claims a piece of us on a daily basis, and yet every morning we wake up whole again, ready to offer ourselves anew. Whether it is our working environment where we can finally combine the right amount of experience, stamina, and determination to succeed, or our private life, where our children and parents demand our utmost attention, there is one point everyone agrees on: we are the unstoppable rock for our nearest to lean on.

On the bright side, the fifth decade is also a period full of discoveries, little instances of ‘Eureka!’. Every time realization hits, another small piece of puzzle clicks into place, and suddenly the world makes sense.

“What was I thinking?” must be the most common rhetorical question we forty-somethings ask ourselves when looking in a metaphorical mirror. Because at some point, even the most well-meaning human beings get fed up by what’s chaining them down:

People who think the world revolves around them

They are living under our noses: they can be our boss, our husband, or our friends. They believe their priorities come first, and their needs have to be fulfilled instantly. Alarmingly, the older they get, the wiser they don’t become.

There comes a time though, when we regret every minute of our lives we’ve spent in the company of know-it-alls who keep blabbering about themselves, and even worse, the instances we were led to believe that surely, their self-focused bluster contained some grain of truth. Maybe they were right: they did deserve that promotion. Or, perhaps we were so wrapped up around ourselves and weren’t paying them the attention they craved. And, they, they, they. Spoiled children, who never grow up and never inform our lives positively.

Excusing others who treat us badly

We all have ample examples of rationalizations which we fall so easily for, or ways we justify other people’s actions. There is nothing more pervasive than the little voice in our heads that urges us to overlook someone’s bad behavior because they are in a stressful period of their life. Or because they didn’t mean it. Or because that’s…